Harujion Design

Featured on PRUDENT BABY!

2012-02-09T09:04:00.000-05:00

My "Easy Origami Valentine Heart Card Tutorial" is featured on PRUDENT BABY blog! Their site is filled with a lot of useful tutorials, videos and information. I hope many of PRUDENT BABY readers like my post and enjoy making origami hearts! Thank you for having me on your site PRUDENT BABY!

I posted new pictures of more colorful hearts for the PRUDENT BABY post. Please check it out over there. Happy origami making!

Things I am working on

2012-02-06T12:28:00.000-05:00

Hello February! This month we have two birthdays in my family. Mine and my husband's. February is the darkest, coldest month here (and in Japan too). But also it is the time to be thankful for us that we have been living well for forty-some years :b

By the way, I have some projects going on at once as usual. I would like to show you peeks of it. As I mentioned at the beginning of the year, I am working on pattern making right now. I am starting with a couple of embroidery patterns. The first theme is roses. It is taking long time as I expected. because I am also learning to use drawing and photo editing software as well. It is hard but pretty much fun. I always like to learn something new.

From here, these are my private projects. This knitting below is going to be Nina's vest. I picked a neutral color from my yarn stash because this should be suitable as a school uniform, too. I am so enjoying to work on cable stitches. Hope I can finish this before spring's here.

I hope you can see what's going on in this picture. Yes! I am making a stuffed kitten. The materials are Nina's old fleece shirt and her baby clothes. Nina is a quite stuffed animal collector. Cats are one of her most favorite animals. The pattern is from this book.

I am hoping I could bring the patterns out in my Etsy shop soon. I will announce here when it is ready to be published. And I am thinking of new free tutorials in my mind. Please stay tuned!

Thank you for reading and have a happy crafty week!

Kimono Silk Sakura Applique

2012-01-30T10:31:00.000-05:00

I had this old Kimono silk for long time. I wanted to make mats for covering the surface of the shelves on our bed head board. I found this faded maroon Kimono silk in my stash bin and thought it would look nice on the shelves. I love the rustic look of the outworn Kimono. But there were a couple of little holes. I was going to cover only those two holes with Sakura (Cherry blossom) petal shaped applique. As I worked on it, I felt like making more petals as embellishment. The fabric I used for applique is also silk from another Kimono.

I don't need to worry that my favorite vintage Heywood Wakefield furniture get damaged anymore. And my bed looks a bit more beautiful.

Valentine Mini Heart Pouch Tutorial

2012-01-23T11:36:00.000-05:00

St. Valentine's day is right there. I see so many heart shapes, red and pink in the world now. So I thought of making something in red and heart shape just for fun. I liked to play with cozy felt in warm color. And I loved the result of a couple hours of fun handwork. So I want to share this project with all of you. I wrote the tutorial for making this lovely Mini heart pouch here in my Flickr set. There is also the downloadable and printable actual sized heart pattern here.

The heart is only 3-1/4" wide. This could be a coin purse, a jewelry pouch or a gift package for your Valentine.

It is all hand sewn.

You can reach the heart pattern for the sides of the pouch by clicking this image below.

I hope you will enjoy the project!

Have a great week, and Happy hand sewing!

Gum Drop Mobile Sculpture

2012-01-20T13:18:00.004-05:00

Ascend to December, my husband and daughter built some pyramids and other shaped sculptures with gum drop candies and toothpicks. It was for Nina to learn Math and Geometry. (My husband had worked as a math education specialist for long time. It was always his dream to tutor his own child someday. And his dream has come true after many many years!) Those sculptures were sitting on the kitchen table for a while because I loved the colors and shapes so I didn't want to throw away.

One day in the last week, I happened to think of making a mobile with them. Then I made it right away. And it worked! I hanged it from the ceiling in our family room with fishing lines.

If you had some left over gum drops from a project of ginger bread house, you should try this. It is so easy and a fun project to do with your kids.

Happy crafting with kids!

Serger Cover Finished!

2012-01-18T12:19:00.001-05:00

I couldn't do any sewing on the past weekend as I expected. But I eventually finished it yesterday and here it is!

The quilted body was done last week. So I started with making two gussets. I layered tops, fleece and backing together. I didn't quilt these parts. The fleece was fusible so I just stuck them together by ironing.

Cut some strips in 1-3/4" for piping edges. They are not bias because there is no curvy spots on the hem.

Nicely covered hem!

All the parts are ready to be assembled!

I attached the gussets to the quilted body and piped the raw edges with coordinated fabric. And Ta-Da! My first cover for serger is finished!

I like it. This project was unexpectedly (because I felt it is my duty to spend or dump my scraps) so fun to me. I am in the middle of organizing my studio in the basement. And I found lots more scraps to make something fun like this. There are already some ideas of use-up-scrap projects in my mind.

I hope you liked to see the progress of this project and it inspired someone who wants to find a good use for their pile of treasures. Happy sewing!

Scrap Quilt / Serger Cover

2012-01-14T16:43:00.000-05:00

If you love sewing and fabric, you must have lots of tiny pieces of scrap fabric in your stash. Just like I do. I kept thinking I would use them up somehow for something soon. And the time just went by months and months. The pile of scraps got bigger and bigger.

At last, I thought of making a cover for my new serger and it could be a good chance of using those scraps. Then I just started to sew without thinking too much. (Once I started thinking, it could take forever. I have had that kind of experiences a lot.)

I picked light colored scraps for this project. Many different prints and some solid cottons sorted by color.

I picked out some long strips from the pile. Lined them up to see how it looks together. Then just sewed them up together. It can be a bit wonky. It makes the piece looks more fun.

Pressed the piece and cut them in three 3" wide strings.

Connected them in one string until the piece got desired length.

I made three strings.

Added some solid strings in between the pieced strings. Those solid strings are from Kona Cotton Jelly Roll I purchased online long long time ago.

I machine quilted it "Stitch in the ditch".

How the stitch looks on the top.

On the back.

I still need to attach gussets to the sides. But let's just take a look how it would look on my machine! Pretty good, don't you think?

On weekends, I usually don't have much time to work in my studio because of the people I have to take care of are at home. And this is a long weekend. I will try to update this project as soon as I can. I hope my girl gets a play date or two! So I can finish this and start a new project.

Have a happy weekend and please stay warm if you were in the cold climate!

Easy sewing / Apron

2012-01-13T06:31:00.000-05:00

Today I sewed an apron. I have made the almost same ones before and I wanted to improve the pattern and think about making it in other sizes.

I made buttons with the fabric I used for the pocket.

There is another project going on. I am making a serger cover like I said before. I am trying to use up my tiny scraps. It is going to be a piece of scrap quilt. I hope I can write about it in the next post.

Yeppie! My dream has come true!

2012-01-10T14:47:00.000-05:00

I have been wanted to have a serger for years. And at last, I got my wish! Now I have a baby lock Lauren in my studio! Lauren is their entry level machine and it works just right for me. This will make my work much faster and let me discover the new world of sewing. I am so excited! This morning I just started to play around and learn how it works.

Looks good!

Look what I finished with my new serger this morning! My new PJ pants! It only took a couple hours to finish. I am so happy to make certain my new machine works well. And happy to have a new pair of PJ pants as well!

The material is cotton flannel. It feels warm and cozy.

I can't wait to move on to the next project. There are so many things on my TO SEW list. I probably should make a cover for my new machine for the next.

I hope you all started a good week. And HAPPY SERGING!

My Little Camera Case / Knitting Pattern

2012-01-09T17:14:00.000-05:00

I knitted a camera case for my Nikon Coolpix yesterday. I thought of this project idea accidentally. I was going to knit a pair of socks for Nina. She just started taking skating classes and she needs warm, thick socks for that. I got this cheap yarn from somewhere before and started knitting. As soon as I started, I found the yarn feels too hard and no comfort because of its quality. I was already done making a picot edge. I didn't want to unravel that. I stared at the thing on my needles for a while and I discovered the way not to waste this thing. It was my camera case.

The picot hem is lovely. I like the well-finished look of the edge.

Here is the written pattern for this project. Please change your needle size or gauge according to the dimension of your camera. My camera measures 3 1/2"x2 1/4"x5/8"(9cmx5.5cmx1.5cm).

Gauge: 4.5stitches / inch
Needles: five double pointed needles #3 (3.25mm)

Cast on 40 stitches. Arrange sts evenly on 4 dpn. Join carefully not to twist sts. Work stockinette stitch 5rows (or until the length gets to 3/4") for the facing.

Work a turning round as follows *K2tog, yo; repeat from *

Picot edge (hem): Work the same number of rounds (stockinette sts) as in the facing, then fold facing along turning round to inside of hem, and attach as follows :
Pick up the edge of the first cast-on stitch and knit this together with the first stitch on the needle. Continue around in this manner, working the edge of the corresponding cast-on stitch together with the stitch on the needle.

Work stockinette sts until piece measures 3 1/2"or desired length. (The length depends on the size of your camera.)

Grafting: Place stitches to be joined onto two needles (20sts on each needle). Graft with Kitchener stitch.

Loop: Attach yarn on the edge at 1/2" from the center of the width. Crochet chain sts until string measures about 5"long. Sew the end of string to the edge at 1" from where chain started.

Sew a button on the middle of the case.

*******

This project is versatile. It can be a cellphone case, a business card case, or an ipad sleeve by changing dimensions. Enjoy making your knitted case for whatever you want. I think I have to go down to my workroom and find better yarn for making Nina's socks.

Heating Pad Tutorial Harujion Version

2012-01-07T22:55:00.000-05:00

I made some heating pads for Holiday gifts and for myself. I searched several tutorials online and found one I like on this Ms.Abbie's blog "The green wife". After I made one following her tutorial, I wanted to change some parts of it to make the process more simple and easier for myself. So this is the Heating Pad Harujion Version.

I have been using this since Christmas. Before I go to bed, I place a heated pad under my comforter just around the area my feet would be. So my feet won't be cold and disturb me falling asleep. It amazingly stays warm for long time. So later, I pick it up from my feet and put it under my shoulder. This thing works super for me. I am thinking to make one in a different shape for only my feet.

My tutorial is here in my Flickr set "Heating Pad Tutorial Harujion Version". I hope it would work for you as well. Happy warm sewing!

2012 Fired Up!

2012-01-03T14:25:00.000-05:00

Hello 2012! I hope you all are enjoying the start of the new year. I fixed a little Japanese traditional new year dishes. This year we didn't have any guests so I cooked just a few dishes to celebrate the new year.

We didn't have much snow in December (actually it was unusually dry!) but eventually we had a big snow storm yesterday. I guess it went up to about 6" deep. Kids around here were super excited. They have been waiting for this moment since the Winter break started. They played crazy in the snow like puppies.

Sledding in the driveway

And as I wrote in the last post, I already started making things and improving our home! This is the pants I finished last night for Nina. She needs some more pair of pants as her school uniform. I cannot find uniform pants which are made of warm fabric at any stores. So I decided to make them and making by myself takes less time than looking for perfect ones from stores.

I like the detail of this pattern. This is the front. Look at the front panel, buttons, and a tiny pocket. How cute.

This is the back. I like the york and the slit pockets. It was a bit difficult to sew. I think it is because of the material I used. Corduroy was a little too thick for this design. It was fun to learn the structure of this kind of pocket. I definitely make another pair soon.

The pattern is in this Japanese sewing book. "Easy and Neat, Girls' clothes Boys' clothes"

I changed the length of these pants.

The school resume tomorrow. I expected Nina to wear these for school tomorrow. But Nina liked it when she tried them on this morning. So she went sledding in her new pants and she is still in those.

And I also made some more large sized Furoshiki yesterday. I have sold lots of Furoshiki last year. I am glad that people are interested in this eco-friendly Japanese culture.

We re-painted the bathroom, too. My husband replaced an old light. The bathroom looks fresh and cleaner now.

A little helper.

We already achieved pretty much in these first three days of the year! It seems we all fired up for our resolution!

2011

2011-12-31T19:06:00.000-05:00

For the last post of 2011, I made photo mosaics of my creations from the past year. It seems I made lots of things, but on the other hand, I feel I could have done much more.

Stitches

Bags

Jewelries and Accessories

Other things

I am so glad I can welcome the new year with my family in peace. 2011 was very difficult time for us, Japanese people. There are still many signs of the damage caused by the earthquake and so many people are still suffering from loss and refuge. I hope they will have a better year, and also wish 2012 will be a hopeful year for all the people in the world. From the bottom of my heart.

I hope myself to improve my work and this blog in the new year. My goal is to post more tutorials and patterns here. And make much more things both for my job and myself (and my family). I want to improve my house more, and live healthier and happier. Too greed? Maybe. But I like to be ambitious at the start of the year. Because this coming year is like a big blank canvas yet! You could draw any picture on it. I might prefer to embroider on that :D

Thank you for your support for 2011

and

A HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!

Love,

Hiromi

Made before Christmas

2011-12-25T22:29:00.000-05:00

I made lots of things for consignment this month for Christmas gift shoppers. There are some pictures of things I made.

A ring with many different kinds of beads in aqua tone which shine like crystals.

Another color variation.

A brooch pin. Those jewelries and more are able to be purchased at Junk Evolution in Downtown South Bend until the First Friday, January 6th.

Those two necklaces were the Christmas gifts for my sister in law and my niece. Nina helped to make the paper bows folding recycling papers.

This one is made for Nina's teacher Mrs.R. It is a tree ornament which is just like these we made in May. But this time, I tried to print Nina's drawing out on the fabric. I prefer the last year's result, though this looks so cute and very special for Mrs.R.

And this one is for Mr.Bus driver. I hope he liked it.

I made a ribbon with a string of fabric. There is a message printed on it. I think this is a good idea to make a simple gift more interesting and very special. I used Freezer paper method to print on fabric.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and are enjoying your quiet night. Good night.

I wish ...

2011-12-24T07:58:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you so much for stopping by and reading my blog this year. Your comments encouraged me a lot and you are my inspirations. I wish you all have happy Holidays with people you love.

Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

Holiday crafts just in time? Oh! No Christmas tree yet!!!

2011-12-16T18:07:00.000-05:00

We usually go to Christmas tree hunting to a farm in Michigan right after Thanksgiving. But not this year. We just cannot find time on weekends. Well, we had one weekend we could have gone to a farm. But the weather was awful. It was cold and raining all day long. Christmas tree hunting has to be fun. We could probably have felt miserable if we've gone on that day. Anyways, we didn't go. It is kind of embarrassing that we don't have a tree yet by now..... just a bit. So I tried to catch up this week and there is a little progress on decorating for Holidays.

Nina's Ginger bread house.

I made a new Christmas wreath for the front door.

She made a fence around her house with lots of gumdrops and toothpicks.

This year I picked gold for my door wreath. I wish I could make this with real fresh leaves of fir or spruce. I usually make wreaths and other decorations with cut branches from our Christmas tree. I hope we will go get tree this Sunday. (That is going to be the last chance for us, don't you think?)

I still have to work on preparing gifts pretty much too. I think trip to Chicago for shopping for Japanese new year celebration would be after Christmas. Ahhhhh, I always feel I'm so behind this time of the year.

I hope you have a fun week preparing Holidays!

Last Weekend

2011-12-06T17:31:00.001-05:00

I had a very busy week last week. I was invited as the artist of the month by Junk Evolution on Friday and had a Furoshiki (Japanese Wrapping cloth) demonstration on Saturday. So I worked on making new items to sell for Holiday gift shoppers and preparing for demonstration. Plus, Nina had the first two performances of the Nutcracker 2011 as a little snowflake on Saturday afternoon in Michigan.

At Junk Evolution, they made a whole shelf filled with my work. My items are very nicely displayed by Char and Linda in their admirable shop. I was so happy to see that.

They change the theme of their display every month. This month, it is "Dancing into December". I always am looking forward to seeing their new look of the shop every month. And this is how it looks like now. (I am sure they already have sold many of these beautiful things since I was there.) It is spectacular!

Their First Friday events are always filled with fun ideas. This time, they had dancers on the front show windows!

And this is me in front of my shelf. I stayed there through the event and talked with many customers. People who adore this shop are all very nice and very interesting. I had a good time to communicate with people.

Right after I finished my Furoshiki demo, I ran to Michigan to see Nina's ballet performance. I needed to drive for an hour and it was worth it.

They are going to have more shows in Downtown South Bend next weekend. They have dress rehearsals every night from today. Actually, right now when I am writing this, they are at the theater. I have to pick her up at 7:00 pm, then run to the school to attend "the night with Santa" event! The Mommy job seems never ends! And that is my dream job so I'm gonna make it!

This is my little snowflake in her costume. (They couldn't find tiaras for all the snowflakes that day. So girls missed having their precious tiaras! ) I thought the lip stick was too red for little ones, though, they looked so pretty!

And here is my favorite Nutcracker in Junk Evolution. They painted him in turquoise!

I hope you all have a great busy week! Happy Holidays!

Products for First Friday Sneak Peek

2011-12-01T18:35:00.001-05:00

I am honored to be invited to First Friday as the guest artist of this month by Junk Evolution. This afternoon, I brought in my works to Junk Evolution for tomorrow. I am going to sell my bags and accessories. Store hour tomorrow is 5:00-9:00. I will stay there from about 5:30 to 9:00. So I would talk with customers about my work and so on. If you are in Michiana, please come to see me. I am looking forward to seeing you and all.

I made some new products for this event. Here I show you some pictures of them. I can't wait to hear from folks what they think about my work. My main theme of this event is "Recycle". I used antique Kimono silk, vintage clothes and things from thrift stores as materials.

The Hound's tooth tote bag is made of old skirt. I added wool embroidery on the front. And the bottom one is a crocheted belt pouch. The belt is from recycling store. I picked out belts in very good condition and washed them carefully so it is so clean! The crocheted pattern is star stitch. This technique is now very popular among Japanese crocheters in Japan. The pouch comes with hand stitched felt brooch.

I made some elegant bags with these precious antique Kimono silks which have been waiting to be used in my stash for long time. I am sure they will be special gifts for Holidays.

There will be many more items showing up. Beaded jewelries, Flower brooches and more. I have been so busy to getting ready. Lots of small jobs like making price tags etc....

I am going to show how to use Furoshiki (Japanese wrapping cloth) on Saturday 11:00-1:00 at Junk Evolution as well. Furoshiki is perfect tool for gift giving. It is free, so please come to learn!

Stay warm and have a great weekend! Happy December!

First Friday and Furoshiki Demo

2011-11-29T19:52:00.001-05:00

I will be the guest artist of December at Junk Evolution for First Friday. There will be my handmade bags and accessories which are able to be purchased. Those items would be perfect holiday gifts. I made new adorable purses and some other pretty things. Please take a closer look on them in your hands. I will be there from 5-9 so please come to say hi to me. I am looking forward to seeing you!

And next day, Dec 3rd, I will also demonstrate Furoshiki (Japanese traditional wrapping cloth) again. I will show how to wrap things with fancy fabrics. Wrap your gift with Furoshiki. It will make your gift very special and unforgettable.The demonstration time is 11:00-1:00.

Beaded bouquet brooch / Furoshiki workshop

2011-11-17T10:17:00.001-05:00

This pretty beaded brooch looks like a flower bouquet is for a order from my mother in law. This is going to be a Christmas gift for someone (again, it has to be surprise so I cannot tell for whom). It is going to be given on the Thanksgiving day when we visit our relatives in Southern Indiana. So I finished it a bit early.

I used various shapes and kinds of beads. And colors as well. This project was improvisation like many of my pieces are. I am glad it eventually turned to look like a bouquet of delightful flowers. The brilliant details are suitable for a holiday gift.

The base of the brooch is made in Japan. I brought these back from Japan years ago. The part has many holes on the top so you could embellish it with any beads and charms using beading threads or wires.

I covered the lid of a little gift box with Japanese Origami paper. And the brooch is ready to go.

By the way, I had a Furoshiki (Japanese traditional wrapping cloth) workshop yesterday. It was a sudden offer so I couldn't prepare so many samples. But I got many good reactions. Many people were interested in wrapping gifts and making bags with Furoshiki. I am going to have another workshop on December 3rd. There are some customers already predicted coming back to learn more.

Restoring an old day bed

2011-11-12T08:53:00.001-05:00

One day we found an old day bed which has beautiful woodwork at my favorite local vintage shop Junk Evolution. The wood part was shabby and faded, and the seat was covered with soiled black canvas. The design looked pretty much arts and crafts style which is we really like. And the best thing for us was it was a bargain! I don't remember exact price but it was around $32-35. We grabbed it right away of course. Then Tim refinished wood part and the frame regained the beautiful color and shine. Then, it had to be sitting in the basement waiting for me to re-upholster the seat for months......

After several abandoned months, eventually I finished it. Unfortunately I cannot find the pictures of original figure of this item. I am afraid that I lost some pics when I transported my data to new PC from old one.

Anyways, I re-covered the spring with this mid-century themed upholstery fabric. I didn't have enough fabric for making additional cushions (the bed didn't have top form parts so I needed to make those) so it stayed in the basement for a while again until I get an appropriate fabric for finishing this project.

Eventually, I got this cool dark gray upholstery fabric in 50% off price (!) and made two blocks of form parts for the top.

We had a big old form in a pretty good shape. I know it looks dirty. But in fact, it is just old not really dirty. I cut it into two blocks with the utility knife and it was amazingly easier than I thought. Then I sewed the covers.

Before starting this project, I decided to change the color theme in the living room. Yellow and Gray. Yellow has not been my comfortable color to live with. But I don't know what is happening in myself, I am getting to like this color. Red and Orange are also getting my heart too. I needed to embellish this reborn day bed. So I made some new pillow covers in Yellow.

This fantastic Yellow x Gray fabric was on the clearance wagon in the fabric store. It was only $3/yard! How lucky I was! I guess you already noticed that the pillow color is perfectly matching with my messy front yard in the color of fall maple leaves! I just love this view from my picture windows in my living room in this season.

I had some more this fabric left. So I made a coordinated fabric panel for the wall. (Just covered a art canvas.)

The day bed is now very popular place to snuggle around. It is soft and comfortable. And also looks so cool especially from the front yard in the picture windows.

We already had the first snow here in South Bend. It didn't stick on the ground at all. But I feel the Winter is just around the corner. Winter time, it is very important to keep home very warm and comfortable. We are planning some home improvement projects for our home this Winter.

Thank you for reading, I hope you have a good weekend and stay nice and warm.

Felt Brooch and Sashiko Pouch

2011-11-11T13:20:00.001-05:00

I made a embroidered felt brooch for my shop.

This brooch is available on my Etsy Shop now.

This Sashiko pouch was my older project. I just couldn't get a chance to blog about this. It was an order from my Mother in law. It is going to be her Christmas gift for somebody. I don't think I should talk much about this now. Surprising gift would be more fun for the recipient.

Pictures from the class

2011-11-09T12:07:00.000-05:00

I am so happy the ring making class ended successfully. It took longer than I planned for everyone to finish the project (in fact, I feel sorry that some people had to take their project home in the middle of their work), but everyone seemed having fun to make rings in their favorite colors. The ladies I had in the class were all very charming and it was so much fun to have them in my memorable first class in the US. Char of Junk Evolution who hosted this class prepared some tea and homemade spice cake for us and it tasted superb.

Concentrating on their minute project.

I prepared the kits in six colors and everyone chose different color. This is a white & silver combination ring which is Rose's finished piece. I hope everybody finish their rings and enjoy wearing it.

I had a great time and this event encouraged me a lot. Thank you so much for your help Junk Evolution, Char and all the students. I hope to see you again soon!

Beaded Ring Making Class @ Junk Evolution

2011-11-07T22:31:00.000-05:00

I am going to have a class for making beaded rings tomorrow evening at Junk Evolution. I brought back ring supplies from Japan for the classes. There is a info about the class in Junk Evolution's blog. The class for tomorrow is already filled but we are considering to have another class next Tuesday again if there is more applicants. The cost is $20 and that includes all the materials you will need. If you live in Michiana area and be interested in making these pretty rings, please contact Char of Junk Evolution from their blog.

I prepared ring making kits in different colors. Participants will be able to pick their favorite color.

I am looking forward to see the class tomorrow and next week! Happy jewelry making!

Two Contests of Halloween

2011-10-31T10:03:00.001-04:00

I usually try to put a pretty picture on the top of my post to catch your eye. Today..... I am sorry that I put the ugliest picture up here! But it is Halloween! I bet you have some ugly eeeewwwwooohish stuff around your house as well!

This ghostly green witch is Nina's creation for entering Pumpkin decoration (without carving) contest in her school. The winner have been decided by students' vote and she didn't get a prize but we had so much fun at the annual Fall Festival at school.

Nina got this pumpkin which has a bump just looking like a nose. Then she decided to make it a scary ugly witch's face. I helped to find a hat, bloom, and yarn for hair, and spray green paint on the face.

This year, I expected Nina to be a Super Hero Girl like a Wonder Girl. I have been thinking making a super girl suits. But in the last minute, she changed her mind to become an angel. So the costume project got to be really a last minute whipping up. I just made some slits on a white square satin fabric and tied it above her both shoulders. I thought it looks kinda cheap but it seems to barely worked. Because she won the prize for the prettiest costume at the Halloween party at her grand parents' church!

Please enjoy my photo gallery of Nina's school pumpkin decoration contest entries. There were some very good ones I was impressed.

Thank you for reading and hope you all have a great Halloween and Trick or Treating!

Diamond Bag and Scrap Crochet Project

2011-10-24T19:45:00.000-04:00

I made this crewel embroidery + reverse applique into a bag! In the same size and structure with the vintage Nordic sweater bags.

The sides and bottom of this bag is crocheted with Worsted weight wool yarn. The yarn is mixed color of gray and white so it gives kind of tweed looking texture.

This bag is now listed in my Etsy shop.

Speaking of crochet, I would like to show you some work in progress photos of another project which I actually finished yet. I Think it will give some ideas to someone who saves lots of scrap yarns for making something someday later and didn't find a good use for them yet.

I got these pure wool yarn (actually they are for needle point) in many colors from my aunt in law. She used to make fabulous needle work pieces but now she thinks that is too much work for her eyes so she gave it away to me. I have been thinking how to use them up. Since I am not a "Needle Point" person I had to find some other good use for them.

Then, anyways I started crocheting with those yarns. I had to connect yarns every twenty inches or so. It was kind of tiring work but also changing color at random was fun to do.

This is how it looks like when crocheting was done. I made this in a belt pouch eventually. I am going to list the finished item in my shop soon. So you will see it soon in both this blog and my shop.

I got lots of yarn excess. It will make good wool felted ball. I just can't waste anything like this.

We had a beautiful Monday here in South Bend Indiana. I hope you had a great start of the week.

Need some Rainbow?

2011-10-18T13:58:00.000-04:00

I listed this rainbow colored crocheted scarf for kids on my Etsy shop.

It is crocheted in zigzag shape which is not so common for a scarf. I think it gives you some happy feeling in your dark cold Winter days.

I know kids love Rainbows (especially my daughter. She always loves to put a rainbow in her drawing). And I am sure they will also love to play with these cute little crocheted pom poms!

Fun shape, fun colors!

Happy crocheting!

Fall days

2011-10-16T16:27:00.003-04:00

These are pictures of our Fall days in Michiana.

Apple picking at Lemon Creek Fruits Farm and Winery.

Pumpkins.

Honey.

Apple orchard picnic with Nina's good friend Lily.

After apple picking,

Of course, Apple cake baking!

Big bite and smile.

I have more pretty flowers than Summer in my little patio.

Nasturtium and Morning Glory. We collected lots of seeds.

Pretty pink Begonia.

Fall colors at the University of Notre Dame campus.

I hope you are having beautiful Fall days too!

Reverse Applique + Crewel Embroidery

2011-10-15T13:47:00.002-04:00

Sneak peek.

Embroidered with fine wool in cool shade.

This technique is called Reverse applique.

I really love this pattern.

And Nina keeps making more and more, too. She sure is a crafty girl.

Happy crafty weekend!

Etsy Shop Vacation is Over!

2011-10-09T08:52:00.000-04:00

Eventually I re-opened my Etsy shop "Harujion Design". Long vacation is finally over. There are eight items in the shop currently, and there is more coming in a few weeks. Please take a look, and if you have any questions about the shop or items, feel free to ask by email (harujiondesign at gmail dot com) or in your comment. Thank you so much for being that patient!

Etsy Shop

There is one of items in the shop. I named it Vintage Nordic Sweater bag. I felted a sweater and made it into a Boston type hand bag. And added a hand crocheted flower corsage. This bag is definitely one of a kind. Please click the picture below for more info.

And you can see more pics of my items and details in my Flickr pool here.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

It is not about Halloween.

2011-10-06T13:36:00.000-04:00

No, this is not about Halloween at all!

No, No, I am not trying to scare you even I am showing some pictures of this horrible haunted look house.

I know, I know. It is a frightful looking garage.

Actually, it was pretty much scary when we bought this big old house back in February. You probably would not believe that we bought such a nasty old house. But we did. My husband Tim has been involved in real estate business these years. He buys houses and renovates them to sell or rent. We have three houses already renovated and rented right now. There is one more small house waiting to be repaired besides this big old house.

This house is one of the historical houses in South Bend. It is about 90 years old and has great Arts and crafts workmanship everywhere.

Tim started working on this old house in April. It was a quite big job to him. There were so many troubles and difficulties. It took whole six months, and last week, he have made it FINALLY!

I proudly show you how the house looks like right now. Here it is! Please compare to the "before" photo!

After

Before

The house looks beautiful now. It has got a new roof, new windows, new trim paint and new land scape! It looks so classic and welcoming.

I arranged all the plants in the front yard. I brought warm and delightful feeling with Autumn colors.

We had the first open house last Sunday. We got lots of good reviews from customers. And some people came to see the house after the open house. We are going to have another open house this Sunday afternoon again. I hope many potential buyers will be coming to see this beautiful historical home.

There are so many nice elements inside too. We asked professional interior designers to stage inside this house. There are cool furniture and decorations. I would love to show it to you soon in another post.

At last I am proud of Tim that he kept trying and eventually finished this huge project. Oh, when the house is sold, I will be more proud of you of course!! ;-p

Thank you for reading. I will update about my Etsy shop in the next post. Happy Thursday!

Sneak peek / Silk ribbon roses

2011-09-22T20:51:00.002-04:00

Try them on!

2011-09-16T20:51:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, I brought in my new products to Circa Arts Gallery in downtown. I made some hats and jewelry. This is how my table looks like in the gallery now.

The hats are reversible. One side it is wool and has beautiful Fall themed appliques. And the other side is quality linen/cotton fabric which I brought back from Japan. And jewelry, I crocheted some necklaces and bracelets with interesting elements.

I designed Autumn berries and flowers with several Autumn colored wool felts.

This is the reverse side of the hat above. It is surprisingly different from the other side and I think that is really fun (to make and to wear).

It can be worn like this. A little peek of a chic polka dot lining.

This one below has appliqued flowers both on the crown and the brim. The flowers are imaginary but I thought of chrysanthemums because it is one of my favorite Autumn flowers.

And the other side has this colorful linen/cotton fabric. What a fun project! I wanna make more reversible hats in various fabric combinations.

These are all hand crocheted jewelry. I crochet sequins in balls and made necklaces and bracelets with them.

There are matching bracelets.

In many colors!

I want them to be worn casually with T shirts, sweaters, and either dresses.

I am going to list similar items in my Etsy shop soon. My goal is re-opening the shop within September. It seems I have to work harder to make it. But I will try!

And if you live in Michiana area, please come to Circa Arts Gallery and try them on! I think you will like it! ;-)

Stay warm (it is cold in SB today!) and you all have a good weekend!

No pattern stitches

2011-09-08T16:55:00.001-04:00

Sometimes, I like to do embroidery without making pattern first.

Improvisation.

It is just like free-hand drawing on fabric.

I am working hard to make new items for re-opening my Etsy shop. And I need to make more for my consignment since a couple of bags and some other things have been sold! Yepppppy!

This time of year, I have a bad allergy from ragweed or mold or something. Do you have allergy? It doesn't feel good at all to work with my nose running. The last three days were the worst. It got a little better today. I guess it is because of rain. But I did work a lot, baked a lot. So I feel pretty much contented. I hope you don't have your nose running so bad, and have a good Thursday :-)

2011Trip to Japan #2 Purchase (Materials)

2011-09-02T10:30:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it is already September! We still have some hot days like mid Summer, but I often feel a hint of fall in the morning and evening air. It seems my daughter Nina is so ready to go to farm for apple picking and corn maize. And of course she knows what kind of costume she wants for Halloween. I am not so ready for those yet. I will miss Summer days like every year I do.

Today I show you some fabrics and supplies I purchased in Japan. I didn't get many but I am pretty much satisfied about the result.

Starting with my new fabrics. These are all my favorite material Linen and Cotton blend. I collected some fun and cute prints.

I picked this vibrant animal print for my products for children. I have no idea how I am gonna use this yet. I fell in love with this fabric at first sight! This might be a little difficult to use because the pattern is very large in scale and it includes many vivid colors. But I had to have it! I guess this happens to many of my readers who love sewing and fabrics.

The elements of this folklore print are, of course Dala horses (my family of my husband side is half Swedish), and especially I love is the combination of red and grey. It makes this folk theme print look modern.

My favorite pattern, Polka dots in chic colors. This will be so great for smocking projects. Or can be very nice linings for bags.

I always want to get some Japanese traditional themed fabrics when I go to Japan. This time I couldn't find any great ones unfortunately (I didn't have time to explore!), so this one is not very special but I got this anyways. This is very traditional pattern called "Ya-gasuri" which means "Arrow-Ikat".

These are 3mm thick felt. I have been looking for these kinds of good thick felt in the US. But there is no luck so far. So I got some in Japan this time. If you know any good felt suppliers who sell something like this, please let me know. I will really appreciate that.

I got a lot of supplies for jewelry making and purse making. These are ring basses and I bought many of them.

Variety of purse frames. I got lots of them too! I am ready to make many bags for my shop to get ready for the Holiday season!

The football season is starting here in South Bend Indiana. Tomorrow is the first game day of the year for Notre Dame. The town seems lively and very excited. We had a nephew in the band last four years. He played a big drum. But he graduated this Summer. Then my niece became a freshman of ND and she got in the ND marching band. Hurray! I am not a big sports fan but always love to see and listen to the band. This afternoon we are going to see the band rehearsal at the campus. Every band rehearsal we go. That became tradition of my family. And going to see band tells to me the fall is just around the corner. We also are going to the First Friday in down town tonight. This little town is pretty much filled with fun things.

I hope you all have a great week end. Happy September!

New Project Sneak Peek

2011-08-29T22:06:00.001-04:00

This is what I am working on now for my Etsy shop and consignment.

I am making lots of balls like these in different colors. This is just a sneak peek....to be continued.

2011 Trip to Japan #1 Material Shopping

2011-08-22T17:23:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! I was back from my long Summer vacation a week ago! It was one month trip to North Carolina and Japan. I missed you girls and writing here so bad. But I was not able to have chances to sit in front of my PC on the trip as usual! So sorry for letting you to wait that long. As you assume, I have tons of things to tell you about my trip. I am going to start with my crafty material shopping in Tokyo. I guess many of you are interested in what you can get over there in Tokyo. It is a paradise of quality fabrics and materials! My schedule was so tight and the time I could spend for shopping was limited. I wish I could introduce many more stores and market places, but this time I spent time shopping online a lot. There are only several stores I could shop. Today I am going to write about a big craft department store Yuzawaya Shinjuku brunch. The Shinjuku brunch is not the biggest one of their stores. So the selection is also not the biggest. But you will still need hours to look around there for shopping. I hope you'll enjoy this post.

The things which caught my eye first were those super cute needle felted animals and dolls. It seems needle felting is very popular in Japan right now. There are so many small packs of candy color wool roving and also needle felting kits. You can get materials and instructions to make those cute things like in the picture above all in one package. You don't even need to look for appropriate materials individually and get more than you need. I assume the reason of that kits are so popular in Japan is it is very convenient for beginners, weekend crafters, and someone who only wants to make a thing for a gift.

Beading craft is very popular too. Not only making jewelry. These are tiny beads animal key chains. Japanese crafters really like "Kawaii (Cute)" style.

More kits. Those are all beading kits. I wonder how come we don't see many kits at the craft store in the US. I see purse making kits, embroidery kits and knitting kits. But it is nothing to be compared with it in Japan. If you have any opinions about this, I would love to hear it. Just leave a comment on this post.

Japanese crochet lace threads.

Sashiko threads.

Buttons.

Threads for hand sewing.

You might already know, I love Japanese linen cotton print. Its colors, texture, and designs are fabulous. Of course I purchased some. I cannot wait to create something fun with those fabrics I got.

This shelf will be the envy of Echino fans in the US.

Double gauze fabrics.

Japanese Kawaii prints for babies.

I wish I had much more time and budget for my material shopping in Japan! I could spend a whole couple days shopping materials around in Tokyo! Honestly! If you got a chance to be in Tokyo and had time for shopping, make sure that you ask me where to go!

I purchased some fabrics and some other stuff on that shopping day. I will post about what I got in the next post. By the way, after shopping, I had an awesome Japanese cuisine for lunch with my four best friends!

The food was great and it is always so nice to see and talk with old good friends. We spent about four hours talking about what has been going on our life. I had so much fun shopping but spending time with my girls was really priceless. I am fortunate to have such wonderful lifetime friends.

Yum!

Dessert! I already miss Japanese food!

Thank you for visiting here again! I hope you have a beautiful week!

Perfect attendant for my vacation / One day trip bag

2011-07-26T23:47:00.001-04:00

I have been on a long vacation so I couldn't update this blog for a while. How have you been everyone? I hope all of you are having a great Summer (or Winter). We spent a week in North Carolina with my family in laws. We had great days by the ocean. Then, as soon as we came back home, my daughter and I left for Japan to spend about a month with my family and friends. We've been a week in Japan and we are having fun with my family so far. I have tons of things and photos to show and tell you here. But before that, I would like to show a bag I made for myself right before I left for this long vacation. I named it One day trip bag.

I have been wanting to make a travel bag which I can take when I fly to Japan or other countries. I wanted something capacious which is also able to be carried on a plane. I made this bag wider than general totes and the height is shorter. The gusset is also wide so I can store a lot of stuff Nina will need (like snacks, drawing supplies and a set of changing clothes just in case!). The shape is designed especially to fit in under an airplane seat (of course I mean an economy seat) and easy to pull out when I need it. Also I thought of making it open wide to find things inside at a glance.

I added a zipper closure for the opening. So I don't need to worry that stuff will come off when the bag goes through the X ray machine. I made the straps longer for hanging from shoulders. The Yo-yoes on the pull tab and a handle are nice accents.

There is a pocket for my cell phone on the back. This kind of wide and sewn-on handles hold the body firmly.

The exterior fabric is sand beige medium heavy cotton canvas. The interior is cheerful printed cotton canvas.

There is a couple of simple pockets inside. I wanted some more customized pockets but I didn't have enough time for them. I use some small pouches and a small tote for dividing contents in the bag.

I have been using this bag all the time through this trip. Now I know that it is very functional, durable and appropriate for its use. I like this bag very much. I think this will be good for people need to carry lots of things to work or school everyday. I am thinking to make some more for my Etsy shop for this Fall and Winter. (My shop is currently on vacation mode.)

I am going to post about my trip in Japan. My schedule is pretty much tight so I am not sure how much time I can make for writing. I would like to write about hunting good materials in Japan. (I already got some jewelry making supplies.)

I hope you are having a good week and I will be so glad if I could hear from you sometime. Thank you for reading!

The white dress

2011-07-10T21:18:00.002-04:00

Eventually I had time to take some pictures of the white dress for Nina. The pattern is based on the dress in this Japanese sewing book. The author of this book is Yoshiko Tsukiori. She is one of the popular sewing book authors in Japan. I like her design because those are very cute and simple enough to arrange to put some originality in it.

This morning I asked Nina to be a model for this photo shooting. I think you can tell that she is by way of being a super model.

Look at her left shin. That was a shame she got an owie yesterday. (Well, I don't think she even remembers she has a Band-Aid though.) I made this dress following Nina's drawing (her design) as much as I can. She had two big favors about this dress. One was double ruffles on the skirt. Another one was some pretty flowers around the neck. The pattern I used didn't have both. So I had to adjust it a bit and add big fat double ruffles and pretty lace flowers.

She is so excited that she got these new "High-Heel" sandals for attending the wedding. We purchased these about a month ago. And she has been wearing them in the house. This is the first time she wore them outside! (My house has "No Shoes" policy. You can only wear clean shoes which have never been worn outside!)

Some more posing as a super model. It is hard to see but I sewed lace tapes on the waist line and right above the ruffles just for a little more perfection.

I am sorry that you cannot see flowers very well in this picture. I made these with gathered cotton lace tapes and some pearl beads. I hope you can see the detail in the progress photo below.

We are leaving to North Carolina for attending my brother in law's wedding. We'll stay there about a week then leave to Japan right after. I will keep posting about my trip here and on Facebook. I am going to bring good materials, books, new ideas, stories and more and more from Japan! Please look forward to seeing it, and I hope you all have a good summer vacation too!

☆My Etsy shop is now on vacation mode. It will be reopen sometime in September. There will be coming some changes and many new items so please check it out when I am back!

Summer

2011-07-01T15:01:00.001-04:00

I cannot believe it is July already! It's been two weeks since my last post? OK, I know that the time flies like a jet especially after the last day of school. To be honest, I don't feel I achieved much in these weeks. Well, I collected some pictures of activities which has been going around here. Let's see where my time flew away. Maybe I will find something meaningful I have accomplished : )

Field day at school.

The kindergarten graduation.

Nina's 6 years old Birthday party.

We traced Nina's whole body on a big paper.

This is the real size Nina portrait!

We did Tie-dye. The bigger one is made for Nina's best friend and the best baby sitter Wilhe!

The small one is for Nina herself.

We got a kit of making a sun catcher. Nina picked out this "Sun and Moon" design. The color scheme is her own. She didn't want to follow the original color scheme.

And this one, you wouldn't believe this, but it was made about 40 years ago by Nina's Dad! It is still here and in a very good condition!

I did some yard sale shopping. These are some of things I found. A wooden bucket and a set of two Fire King mixing bowls.

I made a crocheted dog for Nina. It took only one hour to finish.

The pattern is from this book. There are many cute dog patterns in it. And those are all quick projects.

We are going to attend my brother in law's wedding soon. Nina is going to be a flower girl. She is required to wear a white dress. So I am making it. Actually it is finished a couple days ago. I just can't have a chance for photo shooting. The weather is pretty nasty here now. These flowers are already sewn on the dress. It is designed by Nina. she is a pretty strict designer for me (I am her seamstress). I will show you the dress when I got some good pictures. I promise.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you all have a good holiday!

Not "Animals". It's Stuffed ........ "Teachers!"

2011-06-14T23:13:00.000-04:00

My daughter Nina graduated from Kindergarten last week. I can't believe it has already been one year since the first day when she got on the big yellow school bus. She was so excited and so was I. At the same time I was a little worried like many Moms might have felt on that day. But once her school life started my anxiety was blown off. She loved her classmates, learning new things, and riding her bus every day. The school she goes is trying to cooperate with parents as much. Many parents get involved classes, lunch time, and school events. The principal and Teachers are very enthusiastic and very good friends of students. My husband and I are so glad that it seems we chose a right school for our daughter.

Nina and I wanted to express our thanks to her teachers. We considered and decided to make these stuffed dolls which look like her teachers. We call them "Stuffed Teachers".

Actually a project of making stuffed animals collaborating with Nina has done a couple month ago. We made this dog in April and we enjoyed the process pretty much.

I asked Nina to draw an animal on a unbleached linen look cotton with fabric markers. ( This time it wasn't an animal. It was "teachers".) I think Nina captured her teachers' character pretty well. I like her drawing because it is very honest and there is no waver. I simply sewed front and back fabrics right sides together along a bit out of outline of her drawing.

I made a inch of slash on the back to turn it over. Filled it with synthetic stuffing then closed the slash with fine hand stitches. The backs of dolls were drawn after this step.

I wrapped these adorable stuffed teachers and thank you notes in cello bags. For the bows I used left over fabric as ribbons.

We loved you so much Mrs. B and Mrs. S. Thank you so much for your help. We will miss you and hope to see you in school next year too.With Love, Nina and Mom.

I like to make animals with my kid in this method. It is simple but very creative way to play with your little ones. Sewing part has to be Moms' job. Kids can fill stuffing and they will love it. If you like to sew and need something entertain your kids (especially in this time of the year ) this will be a fun project. We certainly will make some more animals (or people) in this Summer. I hope you try and enjoy it! Happy crafting with Kids!

Silk Ribbon Embroidered Frame Purse / Chrysanthemum

2011-06-04T21:40:00.001-04:00

I sold some items at Circa Arts Gallery in Down Town. So I made this frame purse to restock my table in the gallery. The technique I used is silk ribbon embroidery. The chemistry between ribbon embroidery and crazy quilt is very good. So this bag has some elements of Victorian style crazy patchwork quilt. The flower I embroidered with ribbon is a Japanese chrysanthemum.

The exterior of this bag is 100% silk. I used three different colors of silk Dupioni for the base of silk ribbon embroidery. Each patchwork pieces are trimmed with several different stitches which look like lace edgings.

I made the handle long enough for hanging from shoulders. The oblong shape of the body makes the bag pretty roomy so it is big enough to carry your wallet, cellphone, a little cosmetic pouch, a pair of glasses, a pocket book and maybe some more.The body is reinforced with fleece. It makes it sturdy and protects contents in the bag.

On the back I simply patched strips of silk and added some lacy stitches.

The liner is cotton canvas geometric print and there is one pocket inside.

The finished bag looks very chic and modern even though I used a kind of an old-fashioned technique.

I would love to have this bag as my personal belonging if there is nobody wants to buy it. Well, I should hope it to be sold for my business though ;-p I will try to make some more purses to sell before we go to Japan (Oh, didn't I tell you? We will make it again this Summer, yeah! ).

Hope you all have a happy weekend and thanks for reading!

Dragonfly Custom Bag

2011-05-31T22:43:00.001-04:00

In February I have gotten an custom bag order from Marjorie who is my dear blog reader. It was for her birthday gift and if my memory was correct her birthday will be in June. I have sent the finished product to her at the beginning of May. I have been wanting to share the story and pictures of this bag in this blog, but I couldn't because I've been occupied in preparing a couple of events and working on trivial family affairs.

By the way, this is the custom bag I made for Marjorie. We consulted about the design via email many times. I took time to make sure what I am thinking is according to her idea. The main theme of this bag was a Dragonfly. She told me that she adore items which have dragonfly on it. And the bag will be used as an "everything bag" for her everyday life.

I embroidered a dragonfly on the front. I used sear organza for wings (it is hard to see in the picture though) and trimmed them with silver metallic floss. The color theme was "Jewel tone". I used emerald green, turquoise and cranberry red etc. The wings are embellished with some sequins which are in Jewel tone color scheme as well.

This is the sketch I sent to Marjorie after we discussed about the design. We talked about fabrics and the structure very well. The final piece looks pretty much the same as this drawing.

I made the handles a little long so it can be held from her shoulder. Fleece is sewn in the handles so it must be sturdy and also gentle to shoulders. There is a simple pocket on the back.

Having a center divider with a zipper was her request and also two other inside pockets were required. I am glad that the pistachio green worked very well in this color scheme. I usually don't use vivid pink widely like this but with this green, it looks nice and very fun. There is a set of tabs with magnetic snaps for a closure.

I got email from her after she received this bag and she says she likes it. I hope she still likes it and is enjoying to use it everyday as much as I enjoyed making it. Happy Birthday Marjorie.

*** I currently am not taking full custom orders. I may take semi custom orders but it will depend on my situation. Please contact me via email (hibilabo at gmail dot com) if you have any questions.

We should do it again!

2011-05-21T20:26:00.003-04:00

My second Wabi Sabi Saturday is successfully done! I did a little workshop of how to use Furoshiki (Japanese traditional wrapping cloth) at Junk Evolution in downtown South Bend. Many people came in and are very impressed that how much we can do with a simple sheet of square fabric. I showed how to make pretty purses with no sewing and other wrapping techniques . All the items on the table are made with Furoshiki. Most people couldn't tell it is just a flat square fabric when they sew these first.

I also sold these handmade Furoshiki. I had three different sizes. The large ones were most popular today. I wish I had more of large ones. I will make some more and deliver them in the store next week.

I know, it is hard to believe that this elegant hand bag is made by making only four knots. But it really is. I just added a corsage as a finishing touch.

I used a set of ring handles to make this chic bag. You can find handles like these at craft stores. But actually these handles are handmade by myself. I used plumbing tubes which I got from Home Depot.

You can wrap two wine bottles in one Furoshiki. The material is synthetic chiffon. It is a great gift wrapping and also practical. You can carry two tall bottles in one hand.

This versatile shoulder bag is made by making only three knots. I put a elastic ponytale band with flowers to secure the opening.

I forgot to take a picture of it but I showed a simple technique to wrap and carry a rolled Yoga mat. And it was very popular. I found out there is a big population of people taking Yoga or Pilates classes in the world! I hope I will have a chance to show you how to wrap a Yoga mat sometime.

And here is a picture of a little corner of my favorite store Junk Evolution. They are great decorators, "re-makers" and artists. They change the store themes every month and always have something new. I love their taste and it is always fun to hang around with them. I am so glad to have a chance to involve in some fun events with them.

We had a very good feeling about this Furoshiki event. We talked about having another one maybe in fall or before Christmas. I think it will be great if we can combine gift shopping and gift wrapping with Furoshiki for Holidays. It is so exciting.

You still can get Furoshiki at Junk Evolution and it comes with a brochure of instruction.

Furoshiki (Japanese Wrapping Cloth) is coming to Wabi Sabi Saturday!

2011-05-17T23:53:00.000-04:00

I am going to have the second Wabi Sabi Saturday event at Junk Evolution in down town South Bend this Saturday. The theme of this month Wabi Sabi is Furoshiki. It is pronounced like " Who, Law, She, Key". Furoshiki is Japanese traditional wrapping cloth. I have been loving Furoshiki and using them a lot for everyday life. In this event I would like to introduce Furoshiki and let people know how come I like it so much.

Furoshiki has been used to wrap and carry everything people use in daily life in Japan. It is also used for wrapping gifts and there are so many more uses. It is a simple square cloth, but quite functional. Furoshiki can wrap any shapes, and the most fun part of Furoshiki is that it has many ways to wrap stuff. Furoshiki can be a stylish bag in a minute even without sewing. You can make various styles of bags.

Recently it is evaluated as an ecological item in the world. Furoshiki is reusable. And it can be very compact when it is not in use. I always have a couple of folded large Furoshiki in my luggage when I travel. If you always had one in the bottom of your purse, it can be a extra shopping bag anytime when you need it. You can reduce consumption of plastic bags. When I moved in the US, I was surprised that people consume so much wrapping papers for birthdays and some other occasions. Wrap a gift with a piece of fabric. Then it will be used again and again. And it makes your gift very special and unforgettable as well.

I will demonstrate how to use Furoshiki in this event. I'll show you making little purses and big shoulder bags and also some ways to wrap gifts and other things. I will also be selling some Furoshiki I made in my studio. You still can buy my Furoshiki after this event for a while at Junk Evolution. The product will come with a brochure of how to use Furoshiki. It is pretty simple. So you just try it and I think you will like it (If you like to live green and also stylish!).

Wabi Sabi Saturday with Hiromi

Saturday May 21st, 11:00am-1:00pm, @ Junk Evolution

528 Colfax Ave. South Bend, IN 46617

Happy Mother's day

2011-05-08T19:49:00.000-04:00

This is what Nina made at school for Mother's day.

You will know what kind of person I am by reading this note. Nina answered all the questions about me.

There was a pretty paper teacup came with the note. It had a tea bag in it. I enjoyed lovely tea time by myself last night after everyone went to bed. What a thoughtful gift!

I love the picture on the tea cup.

Oh, and I made this messenger bag for my Mother in law.

Happy Mother's day for all Moms in the world.

Origami Wall Decor Tutorial

2011-05-05T11:03:00.000-04:00

Sorry that I let you wait, but I eventually wrote a tutorial for the Origami Wall Decor I introduced a couple weeks ago. It could be very long post and I have a lot of pictures for the tutorial. So I wrote it on my Flickr in Origami Wall Decor tutorial Set. This is a very fun project and also so easy. Please check it out and I hope all of you will enjoy it!

Happy Origami Thursday!

Modern Origami Wall Decor

2011-04-23T17:24:00.000-04:00

It has been two weeks since I wrote the last post. I had been pretty busy for about a month to prepare the event and make staff for fund raiser and so on. After those busy days, somehow, my motivation went down very low and I didn't have much energy to face to my PC. I kept working on some custom orders but it is going slow. I think I mentally have been tensed since the Earthquake hit Japan. It was unconscious though, after a month of electric period, I think my nerve got tiered out and needed some quiet time. Then I wanted to do something different. Something very simple that I can really concentrate on it.

Knitting and crocheting help calming myself down sometimes. But this time that was Origami. I made some cool wall decoration with simple origami technique and I want to introduce it to you all. Oh, and I have to tell you that it worked pretty well to recover myself from the minor depression.

These cool geometrical shapes are made of 16 units of origami. Each unit is very easy to make (actually, the red and brown one is made by my 5 year-old daughter!). It only takes half an hour to make one. Do you want to make? OK, I will write a tutorial soon on this blog.

There is another Origami wall decor. Doesn't it look like a piece of contemporary art? I just loved it. The making process was very fun and also easy. It is made of 25 units of origami. I put it up on the wall of Nina's room. I am planning to make some more of this in different colors and sizes for my living room. It seems hard to write how to make this. I might need to take video for the tutorial. I will think of that.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend. Happy Origami making!

Up-cycling Challenge #4

2011-04-10T23:54:00.001-04:00

Here comes my "Up-Cycling Challenge #4" Purse! Today's bag is a frame purse made out of an old feed suck. This fabric is given by Char from Junk Evolution. They changes their shop theme every month and they had French Market Month in February. They restored a pair of old ugly chairs using this feed suck and it turned into beautiful swans. Char gave me a little piece of remnant of the feed suck just for reference. Then it inspired me to make one chic frame purse with it. I made this for Char. So I added a cross stitched letter "C" for personalizing it for Char.

Since it was a remnant of a vintage fabric, it had a light stain. So I soaked it in a bowl of coffee and dyed it slightly darker. The stain is still there but I think it blended in.

This is a closer look of the embroidered initial. I cross stitched "C" using wasting canvas and added a little blue flower.

The handles are also made of the feed suck. I didn't waste any of the material! I love the faded red and blue stripes. I added vintage buttons for embellishment.

I am glad I was able to put a pocket with the stripes perfectly placed in line.

I picked out a modern geometric print of cotton canvas for a lining. It is always fun for me to think something surprising for lining.

I used my original pattern for this purse. I made a lot of bags in this style. I like this pattern pretty much so I think I will make more and more in different tastes from now on.

By the way, Char wrote about the event we had Yesterday and myself on their blog. She is giving a lot of compliments to me and it tickles me a little. But I would like to say thank you to them for sharing a wonderful moment with me.

Eventually the Spring break is over! I will have one more Spring cleaning day and be able to go back to sew.

Up-cycling Challenge #3

2011-04-07T23:03:00.000-04:00

Today's item of my "Up-Cycling Challenge" is this Spring-ish tote bag. It is made out of skirts I got from a thrift store. I used A-line shape of the flowery skirt up side down for the bag front. That means I didn't use any patterns.

The flower print is 100% cotton and the plaid one is linen blend. They were quality and in very good condition. I just love the colors of these fabrics.

I picked out a vivid yellow zipper for a pocket in back. It matches very well with the plaid I used for the side of the bag.

And also I made a flower brooch which is detachable. You can put it on your coat, sweater, scarf, or hat etc.

The lining is durable cotton duck canvas. There is one inside pocket and I added a set of magnetic snaps for a closure. It keeps the shape of the bag nice and neat.

I am so excited about taking custom orders on Saturday at Wabi sabi Saturday at Junk Evolution. I will bring in my books and some more purses I made. I am looking forward to seeing customers and friends over there. If you are in Michiana, please come to see me!

Up-cycling Challenge #2

2011-04-02T21:04:00.001-04:00

My Up-cycling Challenge #2 was making a neat shoulder bag out of this old wool Jacket (Right in the picture).

I like the masculine look of this herringbone wool. I picked out the red striped ticking for an accent and a lining. This bold combination of the wool and a ticking, somehow brought clean and sophisticated feeling to the bag.

I put the front panels of the jacket to the bag front and utilized pockets in my design. Those pockets are still functioning. Red striped trims and the tuck in center work very well to add an interesting element.

I sewed cotton webbing and wool together to make the shoulder straps. It made the straps durable and also look cool.

There is one pocket inside hanging from the top. On each side of the opening I put a set of magnet snaps to hold the contents safely and adjust the capacity of the bag.

The original label from the lining of the jacket is sewn on the back of the bag. It adds a character to this piece.

This project was a kind of improvisation. I didn't use any patterns. I enjoyed it so much and I really love the result. I would love to have this as my everyday bag. This bag is displayed in the store of Junk Evolution for promotion of the event "Wabi sabi Saturday".

Thank you for reading and hope you all have a beautiful Sunday! Happy Up-cycling! ( Challenge #3 post will be coming soon!)

"Wabi-sabi Saturday" and "Up-cycling Challenge #1"

2011-03-30T14:25:00.001-04:00

My friends Char and Linda from Junk Evolution and I are planing to have an event named "Wabi-Sabi Saturday" on April 9th. Doesn't it sounds interesting? This event is mainly for Mother's day. For customers who are looking for something very special for a Mother's day gift. On that day, I will be at their shop Junk Evolution (in Down Town South Bend) all day long and take orders for custom bags and purses. The fun part of this event is that customer will bring in some materials for making purses like old clothes, tablecloth, scarves and so on. Something like a special piece of clothing from someone who passed.

Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent and incomplete"......(excerpt from Wikipedia)

Wabi-sabi is a very profound idea but we simply interpreted it "finding beauty in old or imperfect things and loving them for what they are." That is why we picked the word "Wabi-sabi" for the title of our special event. There is a poster Char made for this event below.

I made four bags out of old clothes from thrifty stores as samples for showing to customers. I found those lovely materials in pretty good condition. Some skirts and a baby girl dress.

And Char got these old wool jackets for me. They are old but very well-made using high quality wool. I made one large shoulder bag out of one of them by now. And I am going to make another soon.

Today, I show you this little purse made of the adorable baby dress in the picture above. I call this project "Up-cycling Challenge #1".

I loved the details and colors of this little dress. So I didn't converted it so much. I am glad it turned very well. This little purse looks so cute and lovely. I hope people will come to this event and give me a chance to face to this "Up-cycling Challenge" some more. I will post about "Challenge #2,3,4" soon.

Lastly, I would like to say thank you again to Junk Evolution and Circa Arts Gallery for having the donation jar for Japan Earthquake Relief. And also to their customers who donated for Japan.

Report of the result of the fundraiser in NYC for Japan

2011-03-27T13:00:00.000-04:00

On the last two Saturdays the fundraiser held by my Etsy friend Aki, other Japanese Moms and some kids in NYC. Some other artists from Etsy and I donated handmade goods to the sale. There you can see pictures of what we donated at Aki's blog. They are so beautiful! It was really cold days in NYC, and it was outside event. So people helped this event must have been frozen. I appreciate their effort at raising money for Japan Earthquake / Tsunami Relief. According to the report from Aki, they raised $3,429.49 total. It is going to be donated to the American Red Cross for Japan relief. Great! I am so grateful to everyone helped and donated for Japan. I am still donating 1/2 proceeds in my Etsy shop. Please stop by and help if you can. (There are many artists donating from their proceeds on Etsy too. )

Thank you for reading. I hope you have a beautiful Sunday!

HELP JAPAN SALE IN NYC

2011-03-19T22:42:00.000-04:00

As I wrote in the last post, one of my online crafty friend Aki from Oktak organized fund raising sales in NYC. She and some other Japanese Moms held a booth at the green market in NYC today and sold some baked goods and handmade stuff. I am so impressed of Aki's quick action and leadership. They will have another sale next Saturday as well, so I made some accessories and sent them out to NY yesterday. I didn't have much time to prepare many goods for the sale but I made six crochet necklaces and eight felt brooches. I am glad that I could do something with them. Actually it is not only for helping the victims in Japan but it is for myself to calm down. I needed to move rather than just worrying. And it really worked to me.

The brooches are made of felt. It was a No-Sew project. I needed to make as many as possible so I picked out this method. It is very easy to make but the finished brooch look so cute. I would love to write a tutorial of this sometime soon.

I used Japanese lace yarn in my stash which has some bright accent colors in white. I simply crochet it with single crochet stitches and many picots. I added little flower motifs on both ends of the necklace.

It can be used as a long necklace or a neckband. And also could be a unique bracelet.

I liked this necklace a lot. So after I sent out the package which contains these items I made, I made another one for myself. I still have some yarn left. I probably will make some more for my Etsy shop.

Aki and Moms sold many many stuff and they made more than $1300 today! Awesome! And a lot of people donated money for Japan! Thank you so much New Yorkers! And you ladies did a super good job today. They will have another sale next Saturday and there will be my stuff and beautiful items from other talented artists. If you are in NYC please don't miss it! There is more info about the sale in Aki's blog. She is also donating 1/2 of the proceeds of her Etsy shop for Japan relief. Her purses are beautiful and stylish. And I am still donating 1/2 of sales of my Etsy shop too. Please stop by and help if you can.

Did you see the moon tonight? It is so bright and beautiful. Thank you for reading and have a super-Moon good night.

If you are in NYC

2011-03-17T16:46:00.001-04:00

There are some Japanese artists and crafters live in outside of Japan who I got to know through internet Twitter and Etsy. Many of them are doing some kind of charity for saving Japan right now. (And many other not-Japanese Etsy sellers in the world too.) One of my Japanese crafty friend Aki from Oktak is organizing a fund raising event in NYC. It is going to be a sale at the green market for baking goods and handmade stuff. I am going to send out some stuff I am making to NY. Here is information about the event. If you are in NY and interested in, there will be my stuff there.

There you will find more info at Oktak's Facebook page.

Something I can do for Japan earthquake relief.

2011-03-15T08:30:00.000-04:00

The situation of Japan devastated area is breaking my heart. It is so frustrating that there is nothing I can do for it. I don't know if it would help anything, but I listed some items in my Etsy shop for donating 50% of sales to American Red Cross for Japan earthquake relief. There is a link to those items and I will add some more items today. It might not do any work but I just cannot be sitting back with doing nothing.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/harujiondesign?section_id=7925945

Pray for Japan

2011-03-13T10:48:00.000-04:00

As you know, my home country Japan is facing to the unprecedented disaster. I was so scared when I could not reach my family. But fortunately I found they are safe soon. I just wanted to tell you that and I would like to say I am grateful that many people are concerned and praying for Japan. It is frustrating that I cannot do anything far away from my country. But I am going to keep thinking what I can do for them. I wish people in the devastated area keep having hope and Japan will get over this enormous tragedy.

Princess Castle Mini Boston Bag

2011-03-05T15:23:00.001-05:00

I think I have totally forgotten to tell you guys that I finished another Mini Boston Bag for a couple weeks! Where was I ??? Weird. Anyway! Here is a Princess Castle Mini Boston Bag!

I used a Japanese Kawaii type of cotton print for lining. The handles are colored leather on both side.

I added some sequins on the applique.

There are all three of my Mini Bags! They look much cuter when they are all together!

These bags are listed in my Etsy shop and more pictures in my Flickr pool.

On the Girls' Festival Day

2011-03-03T21:23:00.000-05:00

Today, March 3rd is the Girls' Festival Day in Japan. We celebrate and wish girls' wellness and happiness. People display the special dolls in their house only once a year on this day. The dolls are commonly given to a girl when she has the first Girls' Festival day by her parents or grand parents. They are called "O-Hina-Sama". Those dolls are a aristocratic couple. These ones in the picture below are mine so they are forty-something years old. I brought them over seas about three years ago from Japan. Since then I display them every year for my daughter just like my Mom did for me and my sister (My sister also has very similar one). For avoiding misleading, I should tell you that we have the Boys' Festival Day in May. It is May 5th.

This beautiful doll below is shipped from Japan for my daughter by my Dad in Japan. This one is not a doll for this event. But I display this with my dolls and tell my daughter there is our family always thinking of us from far far away in Japan.

Well, since I wrote about a very Japanese event, I would like to show you the Japanese traditional embroidery which I am working on now. It is Sashiko. I finished a very light weight scarf with vintage cotton. It was a pillowcase in very good condition. I was waiting for making something with this beautiful material.

I used multicolored Sashiko thread for embroidery. It is just a simple straight stitches.

Then in another project, I am stitching some traditional patterns on solid cotton fabric. This is going to be a center piece or wall hanging. It will be a time consuming project. I will report the progress of this project on this blog so please stay tuned.

Thank you for reading. Happy Girls' Day for all the crafty girls!

Mini Applique Boston Bags / Swan and Robot

2011-02-20T22:56:00.000-05:00

I finished two mini Boston bags for kids. Swan and Robot.

I adjusted the pattern I made for this bag. It worked well. I think the shape of curvy spots got a little tidier than before. I shorten the length of handles a little. And tried to combine cotton and colored leather. This idea added another fine detail to this little bag.

These bags are now listed on my Etsy shop. And there are more pictures on my Flickr pool as usual.

Yesterday was my birthday. I went to see my daughter's performance as a cheer leader at the community kids basket ball game. I got a big flower bouquet from my husband and daughter. I had a yummy Sushi dinner at the best Sushi restaurant in this area. And I watched two movies with my husband. I am grateful to my parents in law that they had my daughter sleeping over. I had a wonderful birthday. I was one very happy woman in the world.

This is a long weekend. I hope you all have a great President day! Thank you for reading.

Applique for Children / Work in progress

2011-02-17T19:08:00.000-05:00

The Castle is not finished yet. I am going to add some sequins to make it a little more visionary. I finished one child bag with the Swan applique. I am working on the Robot bag now. I hope I could show them to you soon.

Easy Origami Valentine Heart Card Tutorial

2011-02-12T13:43:00.000-05:00

My daughter needs to prepare 18 Valentine's day cards for all her classmates until Monday. We decided to take handmade cards to school, and we made these adorable Origami Hearts yesterday. They are really easy to make. So I think I should share the how-to with someone who needs to make the last minutes Valentine gifts.

I am going to show only pictures of process. So if you have any questions, feel free to ask in your comment or send email to me at harujiondesign{at}gmail{dot}com. I used a 15x15cm (6x6 inches) Origami paper. If you don't have Origami papers, don't worry. Cut papers whichever you have in your house in square. I like to use recycling papers like pages from old magazines. OK, let's start now.

Turn it 180° around.

Turn it over.

Done!

I added a little more detail to my heart. I cut out another paper in a key shape and glue it in the center of the heart.

When you open the door of my heart, you will see the massage from me! It says "Be mine". How sweet is that?

We are going to print out pictures of Nina's smiley face, and put them in those colorful hearts with messages.

Happy Valentine's day!

My Dogwood Tote Bag

2011-02-11T13:14:00.001-05:00

This is it ladies! My new Dogwood tote. I looooove it soooooo much!

I took my time for picking the fabric to combine with my sweet Dogwood flowers. I decided to use this lime green tone gingham check for the gusset and bottom. I am so glad I made a right decision. It brought a perfect look to the bag for my spring style. The handles are ready made colored leather imported from Japan. These handles were standing by in my stash for months. Eventually I found the role for them.

On the back, There is a zip pocket with a quality YKK zipper. (I bet you got to know how much I love those zippers made in Japan ;-)

For the closure I used a set of magnetic snaps. There are two inside pockets. One of them is for my cell phone. The size is perfect for carrying my everyday stuff. There is a medium weight fleece sewn in between the outer and the lining so it feels soft and steady.

I am sure this bag will be around as my every day bag from now on. Maybe, some ladies who love sewing will stop me and ask about the bag at Joann Fabric or a local fabric store where I shop once a while. (That kind of things have happened before. Of course I liked it!) If you see a woman who has this bag, it's me! Because this bag is one of a kind.

Please stay warm and have a nice weekend !

Mini Boston Bag for Kid

2011-02-09T22:56:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in the last post I am going to show the bag I made with the embroidery which is designed by my daughter Nina.

This looks like an ordinary Boston bag. But there is one uncommon feature in this bag.

That is the size. This bag is very small for a Boston bag.

I made this for my daughter, and it was also an experimental project. I have been planning to produce a line of bags for children for my shop. I want to make something quality like grown-ups even want to have. I want children to have something well made which they can learn the goodness of hand craft. Then I thought of reducing the size of bags without losing the detail and its quality. It was pretty hard to sew small details like a zip pocket and organize all the complicated seam allowances inside. There are some problems I need to solve yet. But I learned a lot from this project and I got some good ideas in my crafty brain.

The front fabric which has the embroidery on is a Japanese linen blend. I just love these white polka dots on baby blue and the feel of linen blend. I used a cotton velvet for a gusset and handles. And baby pink zipper for the opening. The flower looking felt piece is a little removable brooch. I made a yo-yo with wool felt and put a vintage glass button in the center.

There is a zip pocket on the back. The pocket opening measures only 4 inches but it is a decent pocket. Nina can store her valuable plastic jewelries in that safe pocket and carry them around with her.

The lining is adorable. It is a Japanese"Kawaii(cute)" type of cotton print featuring little fawn and lots of hearts. There is also a simple pocket with my shop label inside. I made it just like I always do for bags for grown-up ladies.

Here is the big smile of my recipient and co-designer. She gave me a big hug and a lot of kisses. I'm the happiest crafty Mom.

By the way, I made another bag for MYSELF with the Dogwood embroidery. This is a little sneak peek of the finished bag. I will write about it next time.

Thank you for reading. Have a great crafty dream everyone.

Experimantal Embroidery Project

2011-02-08T21:42:00.000-05:00

I have a big pile of my daughter's drawing. Children's drawings sometimes look very rough and primitive, but there is purity and honesty in it. It is pretty much interesting to me and I love that. So I would love to keep all of them if I could. But sadly I need to organize them once a while before my house get filled with all those doodles. I through some into the recycle bin and I put some of them I really love in folders. I have been thinking if there is a way to use her drawing in my work besides just putting them in the frame and hanging up on the wall. One day I traced some of her art pieces on tracing papers and waited for the time I can work on it.

Then, it is time to do it! This is an experimental project. I decided to embroider this design of adorable two persons. The size of this embroidery pattern is small and the lines are pretty intricate. I wasn't sure if it would work well but anyway I gave it a try.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you what this drawing is about. It is "Me and my Mom". Isn't is sweet?

I used back stitch for most of outlines. For her curly hair I did couching stitch. As you see in those two pics, I changed the color of her lips.

This girl above is my daughter Nina. Original drawing doesn't have colors. I added colors and some patterns on our dresses.

This is me! Nina didn't forget to draw earrings on my ears.

This is the whole design. I tried pretty hard not to ruin the original look. So this looks like almost exactly Nina's original drawing (I'm sorry I forgot to take a picture of it).

I am very happy with the result. I have a lot more waiting to be made up. I am motivated pretty much now. Anyway, I finished this embroidery and actually made a bag using it on the front. I will write about it in the next post.

If you have a little kid and you think he/she is a genius artist, like I do :-p, you should try this. I am sure it will make you and your family smile.

Thank you for reading!

Princess Palace

2011-02-07T22:00:00.001-05:00

Please let me show you what we built on snow days last week. It is a Castle. Nina was given this Princess Palace last Saturday by her grandma's best friend "Grandma" Vivian. And it was just perfect for us and perfect timing too! We just needed this to have some fun in the house on these No school days.

This castle is made of durable cardboards and 1,500(!) pieces of mosaic stickers. It was too hard to assemble all the parts and build the structure for a five years old. But if you, parents were crafty or just like to create something with your hands, it would be perfect as a family activity for a boring week end. Kids can help finding out which parts goes where, and actually putting all the mosaics on is simple but really a big job which you all can be involved in.

Look at all the detail on the walls. And on the balcony, there are........

How romantic is this! And this is what's going on in the top of the tower ( ;-o)

I love that they designed the entrance to have a "marble" step under the door. I love the heart shaped windows, and purple 3D flowers climbing up the walls.

I guess everybody has spent about three hours to finish this! You know, sometimes very simple work can be addictive :-)

Thank you Grandma Vivian! We love our Palace.

I hope you all have a happy crafting week !

Crochet Tutorial / "Ready for Spring" Garland

2011-02-04T12:30:00.000-05:00

About a month ago, I made this crocheted garland for Nina's room. I linked twenty simple motifs together then add a long chain for hanging. It is a very simple project. Nothing is complicated.

What you will need ; Fingering weight yarns (as many colors as you like), a crochet hook size US B/1 or C/2 (UK 12, Japanese 4).

The yarns I used are "Palette" from Knit Picks. I used a Japanese #4 crochet hook which is 2.5mm diameter. There is no 2.5mm hooks in US size. US B/1 is 2.25mm and C/2 is 2.75mm. This project doesn't have to be so accurate in size, so I just suggest to use one of them which you feel comfortable to go with the yarn you selected.

Here is a chart of the motif below. I drew this chart in common way in Japanese crochet patterns. I hope it is clear enough for you to get what you are going to do now.

For the first row / ch8 ; Join with slip st to form ring.

The second row / ch3, 1dc in the center of the ring. Make a picot.( Work three chains, one slip stitch into the top of previous double crochet .) ch 1. Repeat {2dc together, picot, ch1} 11 times. Work a slip stitch joining the last round.

OK, now you have a first motif done. From the second one, you are going to make motifs joining one after one. In the photo below, it is showing the second motif in half way done. Well, seven picots are done.

Then when you make the eighth picot, work one chain, and one slip stitch through a picot of the first motif you already made.

And one chain, slip stitch into the top of previous stitch (which is {2dc together}).

Then keep working until finish the second motif. After that repeat the same process and link them up as many as you want.

When you connect the third motif (and all of the rest ) to the previous one, make sure that the picot you are going to insert the hook is the sixth picot from one already connected to the previous motif. So you will have even numbers of picots on both sides of two connections.

It is time to add a long chain string for hanging. I used white yarn for the hanging chain.

Ch 7, join with slip st to form ring.
{Ch 10, slip st into the picot of the first motif. ( Follow the picture below.) } Repeat {} to the last motif, then ch 18, slip st into the eighth chain from the end.

Hang two chain rings on the both ends of the string to the hooks on the wall.

Look! Now you made such a pretty crochet garland! Hooray!

To be honest, I have spent hours on writing this little tutorial in English! I am ashamed to say that I am tiered out now. I need to strive for better tutorials in my study of English writing! I wish I improve my English skill a little more. I really appreciate you to read this patiently and keep following my blog . I hope this post gives you some inspirations to you.

Have a happy crocheting week end you all!

Embroidery / My favorite tree flower

2011-01-31T22:11:00.001-05:00

I love tree flowers. There are two tree flowers I really love. One is Sakura which is Cherry blossoms in English. Sakura means a lot to me, maybe to many of Japanese people. It will be a long story if I tried to explain why it is so important to Japanese. So I think I will put it off a little bit. Another tree flower I really love is Dogwood. It is called Hanamizuki in Japanese. When I see Dogwood flowers I know my most favorite season has come. I love the shape of Dogwood tree, leaves and flowers, I love the colors of flowers both in pink and white. Sometimes you see pale green on the petals.

I always wanted to make an embroidery pattern of this flower. And I finally did it. Not only making a pattern. This is my Dogwood flowers on cotton canvas.

I am a little afraid that they might look like Cherry blossoms. Well, Cherry blossoms have five petals. So if you knew it you would think they are not Cherry blossoms. What do you think?

Regarding Dogwood and Sakura, there is a story I want you to know. From 1912 to 1917, USA and Japan exchanged trees for wishing amicable relations. About 3,000 Sakura trees were sent from Japan to America . Some of these are the cherry blossoms which people enjoy on the riverside of Potomac river in Washington D.C. every spring. Japan received Dogwood trees from America. There are still some of those dogwood trees in Tokyo as well. This is not the reason why I like these two tree flowers, but those flowers always remind me the importance of peace and that it is very fortunate I can happily live in this country with people who I love.

Thank you for reading. I hope you all have a great Tuesday!

What I made with the wild flowers embroidery piece

2011-01-29T16:49:00.000-05:00

You probably saw this in my shop or Flickr already, I made a clutch bag with this piece of embroidered wild flowers. For the body I used a gray cotton duck canvas and add a vintage button on the flap.

The bag has two closures. One is a set of magnetic snaps for the flap and another one is a zipper for the body opening. Picking zipper color is pretty much fun to me. I usually use YKK brand zippers but it is a shame that I cannot get them at local stores around here. So I always have to order them online. I like this brand because of the quality of their product.

The lining is a cotton duck print. I always love to have something a bit surprising for the lining as well. I like this print and I think it worked out well. There is a pocket inside with another fun colored quality zipper!

I hope you like what I did with my flower embroidery! I am working on a new embroidery project now. I think I could show it to you soon hopefully in the next post : )

10%OFF SALE @harujiondesign.etsy.com!

2011-01-28T22:22:00.000-05:00

I am having SALE on my Etsy shop! 10% OFF for any order through Jan 30th 10:00pm (ET). Please use the coupon code IHEARTU11 when you check out!

Time for Beading

2011-01-27T19:06:00.001-05:00

A day before yesterday, I got a call from my neighbor Indie. She invited us to the dinner next evening (which was yesterday) at the college where she works (as a dance teacher). And I happened to know it is for her birthday. She and her family are so nice and good friends of us. Their daughter often babysit my daughter and they are very good friends too. I wanted to give Indie a handmade birthday gift and I asked my daughter Nina what I should make for her. She said "a necklace" and "Indie will say, Oh, its beautiful!" So I decided to make a necklace following Nina's advice. I kinda whipped it up because I didn't have much time. The materials are almost same as this pendant I made before.

I wrapped it up with pretty sheets of papers which is designed Amy Butler. And as Nina expected, Indie said " Thank you, it is so beautiful!" I was so glad she liked my gift and had a good birthday.

Today, I made another beaded jewelry. It is a brooch. This one has totally different colors but I used the same method. These beads remind me beach glasses and the dazzle of the sunlight playing on the water.

This brooch is listed on my Etsy shop. And there are more pictures of this and that item in my Flickr pool as usual.

Thank you all for reading this and have a great Friday!

Sneak peek / Embroidery Wild flowers

2011-01-22T19:20:00.000-05:00

I finished this simple stitch work. Wild flowers. I love to draw original embroidery patterns. I just need to find time to work with needles and threads and stitch it on the fabric! I hope I could release my patterns in my shop sometime soon. I'll try anyway.

I miss flowers!

Emboridered Gingham Check Clutch Bag

2011-01-21T22:40:00.000-05:00

The clutch bag featuring the technique which I wrote a tutorial in this post is finished! I made a oblong clutch bag with unbleached linen look cotton. I added sweet cotton lace tapes for edging of the gingham piece. I made a little Yo-yo flower with the same gingham and a vintage button and put it on the strap for the final touch.

The strap is attached to the zipper pull tab and it is removable. The flap part can be fastened with a set of magnet snaps and the body part has a zipper closure. There is one zip pocket inside.

There are more pictures of this bag on my Flickr pool and it is listed on my Etsy shop!

It is the coldest night in this winter here in South Bend! It is expectied going down to 0°F (-18℃) ! Thank you for reading and please have a good week end. Stay warm!

My first Treasury on Etsy

2011-01-17T21:03:00.001-05:00

I made my first treasury on Etsy. As many of you know, Treasury is a collection which you can edit your favorite items from other seller's as a curator. My theme was colors of early spring. Then I found these beautiful treasures. I think I will make more treasuries because it was pretty much fun!

Shabby and Rusty Vintage Look Pendants

2011-01-16T21:28:00.000-05:00

I eventually listed what I really wanted to do for long time. It is Jewelry. Now you can see two chic looking pendants in my Etsy shop. These pendants are made of multicolored glass beads and artificial pearls.

I named this one "Nostalgia".

This one is "Relic".

I tried to represent "nostalgia" and "a relic of bygone days" by combining many different kinds of beads in sepia tone. All the beads are fastened to the filigree base with copper wires.

I would love to make more jewelries as many as I can. Surprisingly my eyes are getting old steadily...... That makes me slow down a little bit, though, I really like to find cool jewelry making materials on Etsy or at local craft stores and play with them. I will put more pictures of them on Flickr soon. Please check them out too.

Embroidery Tutorial / Good Use of Gingham Check

2011-01-16T00:41:00.001-05:00

I am working on several different embroideries which use the character of Gingham Check. Today, I would like to share one of those techniques. It is how to make an interesting pattern with some simple stitches on Gingham. It is simple but it is also effective. Do you see a pattern of formal octagons? I'm gonna show you how to attach sequins with seed beads as well.

You will need to prepare #25 cotton embroidery floss in white. #25 embroidery floss is made up of six strands twisted together. I separated them into groups of three for this project.

1) Let's take a good look at the pattern of gingham check first. It is made up with squares of white and two tones of another color (which is purple in this tutorial). Stitch along horizontally with Running stitch. These stitches should go over the light purple squares in the middle.

2) Do same thing but vertically this time. There you will see many white squares which have four arms sticking out of each sides.

3) Bring the needle up through the fabric from where one of four arms touches to the side (of a white square) .
Thread under the other three arms around the white square then insert the needle back into where it first came out.

There is a figure I drew. I hope you will get the idea what I am trying to say from this picture.

4) You will see many purple octagons and little white diamonds in order. Get a fine needle (has to be able to pass through a seed bead) loaded with a hand sewing thread. I doubled the thread for durability. Bring the needle up through the fabric in the center of a octagon. Pass through a sequin and a seed bead. Then go back through the same sequin again and insert the needle back into where it first came out. A sequin is attached. I put them alternately for this design.

5) Done!

It is a very simple and easy work but it makes interesting texture, doesn't it? There are some more techniques for using the character of the Gingham Check like Smocking and Cross stitch. I would love to introduce those techniques sometime in the future.

This Embroidered piece will be used for a new clutch. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and try this technique sometime. I am looking forward to hear your review of this tutorial.

Have a happy weekend (with your embroidery needles perhaps)!

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P.S.....This tutorial is featured on CRESCENDOh.com on January 23 2011. Thanks!

Mirror Work Hand Bag / Fire Works in the Winter Sky

2011-01-08T14:56:00.002-05:00

This embroidery I named "Fire Works in the Winter Sky" is finished! I made a elegant hand bag with it.

The fabric I used for the base of the embroidery is silk dupioni. The shiny objects in the middle of the fire works are mirrors which were made for mirror work embroidery. There are many kinds of stitches to fix the mirrors on fabric. Otherwise I used some seed beads, tube beads, sequins and metallic silver threads for beads work.

I used a metal frame for the structure. The handles are made of the same silk dupioni. The bag looks beautiful and I think it will suit any formal situations.

The lining is a silk from old Kimono which has Roses on the black back ground. There is a simple small pocket inside.

I would like to show the process of mirror work sometime soon. There are more pictures of this project in my Flickr pool if you are interested. And also this bag is listed on my Etsy shop Harujion Design.

We are having a big snow storm since last night! We already have 20 inches of snow in South Bend. And it is still coming down a lot! I have never had this much snow since I moved in US (It has been five and half years). There is no wind, the snow is falling down more and more peacefully. It is beautiful. I feel cozy in the house and even feel we are protected by snow. That's funny. A couple years ago, I never thought snow like this. Snow was always what I couldn't like......

I hope you are having a great weekend.

Sneak peek / Fire Works in the Winter Sky

2011-01-05T08:51:00.001-05:00

This is what I am working on now. Did you see fire works in the dark Winter sky? Maybe, for celebrating New Year?

It is a combination of mirror work and beads embroidery.

I am hoping to be able to show you a process of mirror work soon. Please stay tuned!

What we eat for the New Year Day in Japan

2011-01-01T20:33:00.001-05:00

How was your New Year Day?
We invited a couple of friends (they are Americans) over and had a Japanese traditional New Year Day dinner with them. These on the large plate are mostly preservable food which are cooked with sugar, soy sauce and sake. Ingredients are fish pastes, eggs, beans, seaweeds, sweet potatoes, chestnuts and so on. And we also have fresh vegetables like Daikon radish and carrots salad, and some salted herring roes.

In my family, we always have this dish which is called "Chikuzen-ni" for New Year. This has many kinds of vegetables and chicken meat simmered with sugar, soy sauce and sake. And also we have a simple soup of Mochi (Rice cake) , chicken and some green vegetables like spinach. All the families have a little different traditions and it is also varied depending on where in Japan they live.

This is Chikuzen-ni I cooked this year. It is kinda hard to make it tastes same every year. But it turned very well this time so I am going to record how I cooked it for next year. Everything is very healthy.

I am so glad our guests loved the look and taste of my food, and we had great time to celebrate the start of 2011. It is very fortunate that I have my family and friends all healthy and welcome new year with them.

2011 New Year's Greeting from us with Animals

2011-01-01T00:59:00.001-05:00

Crewel Embroidered Flowers

2010-12-30T12:20:00.001-05:00

I would like to introduce this crewel embroidery cushion cover I made many years ago for the front cover of a Japanese lifestyle magazine.

According to Wiki, "Crewel Embroidery, or Crewelwork, is a decorative form of surface embroidery using wool and a variety of different embroidery stitches to follow a design outline applied to the fabric." Usually wool yarns are used for Crewel work, but I used general cotton floss instead. Because the issue of the magazine was for Spring and Summer, so I wanted to give fresh and cool feeling to the pillow.

I used many kinds of stitches and techniques on this piece for expressing delicate detail of flowers. The colors of the embroidery design were inspired by the silk plaid fabric which I used for the frame. I used many colors and they are all from kinda same tone group. I like smokey pastel colors a lot.

This cushion cover is now listed on my Etsy shop. And there are more detail pictures in my Flickr pool. Thank you for reading and I hope you all have a happy new year.

Silk Scarf and Kimono Obi Shoulder Bag

2010-12-23T23:40:00.001-05:00

I added two new items on my booth at Circa Arts Gallery where I am selling my work on consignment since last month. They have sold this purse last week and my table got a bit desolate so I needed to restock it with some newly made items in a hurry.

I made two new things. One of them is a shoulder bag which featured a beads-embroidered piece of silk from a vintage Kimono Obi (sash). I embellished a flower motif on the Obi with a lot of fine beads and cut the pattern off from Obi, then appliqued it on a wool fabric which I used for the body of the bag.

The mauve wool fabric I used for the body has a little bit of gold glitter in it. And the gusset is made of a upholstery weight fabric. There is a zipper pocket on the back. You can not to see them in the picture below, but I made the handles long enough for being hung from a shoulder.

The lining is again (I have a lot of them) one of Good Folks cotton prints in pink. There is one simple pocket inside. I added a couple of magnet snaps as a closure. And there is a fleece in between an exterior fabric and a lining.

Another thing I made is a scarf. The material is a silk from a vintage Kimono for front and a black Silk Dupioni for back. I used some fine glass beads, sequins and feather stitches for embellishment. The fine stripes pattern of Kimono makes the scarf look very chic and sophisticated.

I sewed in a thin soft fleece which is 100% cotton, so the scarf feels nice and warm. Silk is a very gentle material for sensitive skins (which I have). It won't irritate your neck like some other wool scarves.

I have lots of old beautiful Kimono fabrics sleeping in my drawers. I always think I should use them up someday. I want to make more scarves like this for my Etsy shop. But I think I have to wait till this crazy busy holidays gets over.

I wish you all have a merry merry Christmas and happy new year with your family and friends.

The Winner is ......

2010-12-18T13:18:00.000-05:00

Katie ! Congratulations!
I sent email to you Katie! Please give me your mailing information via email to hibilabo{at}gmail{dot}com.

Katie said...

I have yet to purchase patterns online but would love some quilting ones. PDF format is ideal. Thanks for the chance!

And thank you all of you who left a comment and answered my questions. It was very interesting and will help me to make a plan of how I should share my crafting ideas with other craft lovers.

I hope everyone will have merry Christmas and happy crafty new year !

Modern Embroidery Messenger / Shoulder bag

2010-12-15T20:00:00.001-05:00

Thank you all for answering my questions on the last Giveaway post. The entry is still going on until Dec 17th so please leave your comment on the last post to win the giveaway!

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I finished making a bag which features this colorful leaves embroidery.

This bag is messenger style, but it can be used as a shoulder bag because I made the strap adjustable. The exterior fabrics are cotton canvas and cotton corduroy. I put same embroidery design on both sides of the bag body. When you see it from the top the embroidery pattern is continuous over the zip opening.

The top zipper opens pretty wide so you can easily find your stuff in the bag and get them out. Also I made the strap wide to ease your shoulder off the weight of a lot of things you need to carry.

The lining is a cotton print from Denyse Schumidt's "County Fair" collection. There is one simple pocket and one zipper pocket inside.

This is how it looks like when it is used as a shoulder bag.

This bag is now listed in my Etsy shop. There are some more pictures of this bag in my Flickr pool as well.

We had much snow last night and it seems we are going to have White Christmas this year. My daughter had her first ballet performances "the Nut cracker" last weekend, and she had a Christmas concert at her school last night. There are many holiday activities going on here just like you do. I hope I can write about those sometime soon........ I have so many things on my to do list though.

I hope you all have Happy Holidays!

December Giveaway Day!

2010-12-12T21:02:00.000-05:00

Do you remember that giveaway I participated in May? I cannot believe it has been seven months since then. I am going to give my handmade things away again for this Sew, Mama, Sew blog Giveaway Day.

So as you will notice on Sew, Mama, Sew blog , the competition will close on the December 17th . To enter please leave a comment on this post to answer these three questions about purchasing patterns online. Entries will be taken from today until December 17th and I will draw the winner randomly on December 18th. The items will be sent from USA, and I will ship internationally.

The questions are ....
1) What kind of patterns do you want to buy online? Embroidery? Sewing clothes? Quilts? Making purses? Or something else?
2) Have you ever purchased any kinds of patterns online?
3) Do you prefer PDF type (you download the file and print it out to use) or Paper type (you receive the pattern already printed on papers)?

If you have any particular patterns you really like, I would love to hear about it too!

There are the items I will give away this time. They all go to one person who wins this giveaway. A set of a little box and two sachets which are embellished with silk ribbon embroidery.

I am not going to put any scent in the sachets. So you could use them to store your jewelry in it or put your favorite fragrance inside. I hope many people will enter this giveaway and would love to hear from you! Happy Giveaway Day!

Modern Zip Pouches !

2010-12-10T16:52:00.003-05:00

This has been a crazy busy week! Nina's first stage the Nutcracker of Southold Dance Theater just opened this morning. So we had three days of dress rehearsals at Morris Performing Arts Center, then there are three more stages Nina will be on this weekend. I will wright about that later this week, or maybe next Monday.

But I tried to update my Etsy shop by this weekend so I would like to tell you about it Today.

I finished two stylish modern pouches this morning and one messenger bag is on the way yet. These pouches have a geometrical pattern which is felt appliqued and embellished with sequins and some stitches. I partially used my sewing machine for making sharp embroidered line.

On the back, they both have simplified applique pattern as well. I added felt charms for the zipper pulls. Those pulls are fun to make and make the product merrier. I like to make them.

The sequins added some sharpness on the design. I am glad I came up with the idea of using machine stitches. I think it looks more sophisticated. What do you think?

As usual, thinking of what fabric I should choose for lining was so much fun. I used multicolored stripes print (Japanese cotton) for the light blue one, and one of "Good Folks" by Anna Maria Honer for the green one.

These pouches are now listed on my Etsy shop. There are more pictures will be on my Flickr pool soon. If you are interested.

I am waiting for some zippers I ordered coming in my mail box. Then I will finish up one more big project for my shop. I think I will keep myself being super busy by after Christmas. I hope you all have super happy busy Holidays too!